News
Crime-writing Duo
Art Taylor and I each have a piece coming out in Barrelhouse's rocking Crime edition! My piece is one from my "etiquette" story project, "The Etiquette of Homicide." So yeah, it's 'crime-y.' Art's story, "Blue Plate Special," is certainly crime-y but also creepy as hell. We're both super excited to see the other contributor pieces in what's sure to be a fun issue from the guys over at BHouse.
Press 53 Open Awards Anthology
My story "Dendrochronology," which originally appeared in The Northville Review, won second place in Press 53's 2011 Open Awards Series and will appear in the Open Awards anthology in October 2011.
My story "The Etiquette of Dementia," originally published in The Mid-American Review, was a finalist in the short-short story category.
Thanks to Kevin Watson and all the folks at Press 53. Looking forward to the awards ceremony on October 22!
Contributing to Stripped anthology
The lovely Nicole Monaghan has accepted a story of mine for her enticing anthology, Stripped: A Collection of Anonymous Flash Fiction. The anthology will have the authors' names and bios, but they won't be matched up to the stories in the collection. So, yeah, I can't tell you which story of mine was accepted. For more on the anthology and the thoughts behind it, visit Nicole's blog.
storySouth Million Writers Award Notables List
My story, "Betta Fish," originally published in Monkeybicycle in May 2010, has been named a Notable Story of 2010 as part of storySouth's Million Writers Award. The next round of the judging continues through May 20, when the year's top ten stories will be named. Check out the full list of semi-finalists here!
Reading at 5ive:ten Readings Feb. 19
Thanks to Jen Michalski, who asked me to read at Baltimore's 5ive:ten Readings this month. I'll be reading with Jessica Anya Blau, Nik Korpon and Pat King, all who have way more impressive bios than I do. Here's more information about the series.
SCORE POTS & SMOKE Reading a Success!
SmokeLong Quarterly's off-site reading with Corium and Prick of the Spindle during the Association for Writers and Writing Programs' annual conference, held this year in D.C., was a smashing success. Nine brilliant readers gave us their best at The Black Squirrel in Adams Morgan in D.C. on February 4, 2011. You can check out the Facebook photo album for shots of the fun. SmokeLong's readers — Michael Czyzniejewski, Randall Brown and Steve Almond — really rocked the house.
First Place in the Santa Fe Writers Project Lit Awards
My short story collection-in-progress, Black Diamond City, won first place in the Santa Fe Writers Project 2010 Literary Awards, judged by Robert Olen Butler.
Thanks much to Andrew Gifford and the folks at SFWP for all their hard work. Thanks also to Mr. Butler, whose work I highly admire. I am very honored to have been chosen for this award.
Black Diamond City is a collection of very short stories set in or inspired by my hometown of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. You may notice if you click on my novel page that BDC is the title of that as well. I have decided to condense that novel significantly (from 500 pages to 25!) and try something completely different. Fingers crossed it works.
Some Upcoming Awesomeness
I had two really big deal pieces of news come my way recently. The first is that Richard Peabody has accepted one of my stories to be featured in an upcoming anthology of Washington area women's fiction published by his press, Paycock Press. I'm really excited about this because he already has some amazing women writers on board for this anthology, and it is sure to be a good one.
The second is that after sending them nearly everything I've ever written (and being rejected--kindly rejected, but still rejected--each time), Mid-American Review accepted one of my stories for publication. I LOVE Mid-American Review. I'm still kind of freaking out about this news. Ahhhhh!!!!
Short List News
My story "Only a Number," published by decomP in September 2009, was noted on Wigleaf's Short List for their Top 50 of 2009. Also, my short story "Like Everyone Else" made storySouth's list of Notable Online Stories of 2009. Sweet!
March Publications
I was lucky enough to have three new stories published in March. The lovely and talented Laura Ellen Scott was guest editor of Everyday Genius this month and published my prose poem "Day 72" there.
I was also honored to be in the amazing all-flash issue of JMWW for my story "Small Craft Warning." And honestly, if you haven't read the issue yet, you need to. Kick ass stories from Erin Fitzgerald, Sheldon Lee Compton, Matt Bell, Meg Pokrass, Scott Garson, Robert Swartwood and others.
Third, I was extremely excited to have my etiquette story, "The Etiquette of Adultery," published over at Necessary Fiction. This is the first in what I hope is a series of 'etiquette of atrocities' stories if I can pull them off.
New Story In Latest SmokeLong
My time as the Kathy Fish Fellow at SLQ is almost up. I've thoroughly enjoyed the year, and have been really productive because of the fellowship. I'd like to thank all of the editors there for their help and encouragement this year.
My last story of the year, "When the Cicadas Come," is now live in the new issue, along with other great stories from writers such as Sean Lovelace, Brandi Wells and James Tadd Adcox. Read it!
I Get To Be a Guest Editor for SmokeLong!
Dave Clapper is doing a cool new addition to SLQ where he asks different editors and writers to be guest editors for a week and pick a submission they want to publish. I recently signed up for a week in early January, which I'm super excited about. I think it will be fun to go through the slush briefly, without getting bogged down by it. It's like a fresh snowfall--you get to play in it before it gets dirty and mushy and dreary.
New Story, Postcard Up on Wigleaf
Scott Garson was kind enough to publish my short, "Where My Boyfriend Lives" on Wigleaf this week. I first wrote this story about six years ago for a prose poem class I took with Eric Pankey at Mason. It actually got accepted for publication at Northern Virginia Magazine at one point, but then they discontinued the feature and never published my story.
I'm glad it finally found a home here!
My AARP story, "Learning Curves," is Published!
I had the pleasure of interviewing the delightful Lee Talbot for an article in AARP The Magazine. Dr. Talbot is a professor at George Mason University in environmental science, but he's also a professional racing car driver. Oh, and he's 80 years old. He's definitely one of the coolest people I've ever met.
Read about his amazing adventures here, and make sure to check out the photo gallery!